Michigan

Students arrive for the first day of class at Phoenix Science and Technology Center in Buena Vista Township Monday morning, May 20, 2013 after the school district was shut down for two weeks due to budgetary problems.
(Jeff Schrier | MLive.com)

BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP, MI — It's now up to the state superintendent and state treasurer to determine whether Buena Vista and Inkster school districts stay open.

Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday, June 2, signed into law House Bill 4813, which allows state officials to dissolve Saginaw County's Buena Vista School District and Wayne County's Inkster Public School District.

The dissolution is up to State Superintendent Mike Flanagan and State Treasurer Andy Dillon. At the signing, Snyder said the dissolution process will move forward in days rather than months.

Buena Vista School District is in a financial crisis, which in May led the district to close for two weeks when it was unable to make payroll. The district struggles academically, with few students meeting state standards in Michigan Merit Exam and Michigan Educational Assessment Program tests.

State Superintendent Mike Flanagan, Saginaw Intermediate School District Superintendent Richard Syrek and Buena Vista School District Superintendent Deborah Hunter-Harvill come up with a plan to get students back into a learning environment.

A proposal to give the state superintendent and state treasurer the joint authority to dissolve school districts in financial crisis was narrowed to deal with just two school districts, Buena Vista Schools and Inkster Public Schools.

After a filibuster lasting more than an hour from a Democratic opponent, the Republican-controlled Senate narrowly approved bills Wednesday to enable state education and treasury officials to dissolve Buena Vista Schools and Inkster Public Schools.

Dissolving the cash-strapped Buena Vista and Inkster school districts will cost the state of Michigan $9 million in the first year, money which will come from the state's School Aid Fund, according to a financial analysis from the House Fiscal Agency.

Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law a pair of bills which would permit state officials to dissolve Buena Vista Schools and Inkster Public Schools, saying the dissolution process would begin quickly to give parents and students time to prepare before school starts in the fall.

Follow MLive and Saginaw News reporter Lindsay Knake on twitter or contact her at 989-372-2498 or lknake@mlive.com.